A: Brian’s answer: First, it's important that you not divulge too many details of your case online or that you admit to wrongdoing online. It's best off for you to reach out to an attorney so you can discuss these issues in private. From the way you are describing the incident, it sounds like you may not have been charged criminally but rather you got a letter demanding to pay restitution with some threat that if you do not pay it, the matter will be reported to police. While I am not saying that you should not agree to pay it, please understand that by paying you are essentially admitting that you took the wallet and money. Therefore, again, it's best for you to speak with an attorney first so they can review the letter and advise you on the best way to proceed. While I certainly understand your concern, I think that having a chance to speak with a competent attorney, your nerves will be calmed and you will be able to sleep again. I am assuming you don't have much of a criminal background if any and these are relatively minor charges that can likely be worked out without them resulting in a conviction if you have no prior arrests. I wish you all the best.

Brian Fishman

A: Brian’s answer: Unfortunately they can not live in the same house per Philadelphia's house arrest unit. They must have different addresses to live at whole on house arrest with an electronic monitor. You should also know that Philadelphia pre-trial services have some additional requirements or limitations for pre-trial house arrest. Some of those include the following:

1. The house can not be a PHA or Section 8 house. If it is not owned, the landlord must approve of the house arrest. Their lawyer will have to fill out a form where they provide the landlord's name and number so they can confirm that they don't oppose the house arrest. I've never seen a landlord have an issue but it's something you should know.

2. No one living at the house can be on probation or parole or, as mentioned above, be on house arrest in the home.

3. The phone line for the house arrest can not be run through cable (Comcast, Fios, etc.) or DSL. Instead, it must be a basic phone line through the phone company such as Verizon. This is not to say that you can't have cable or DSL in the home but if you do, you must get a separate phone line for the house arrest line.

4. The phone line can not have any special features. That is, it must be a basic line without three-way calling, voicemail, caller ID, etc. If you call Verizon and tell them it's for house arrest in Philadelphia, they should know what you need but it's usually about $10/month basic phone line with no special features.

5. The home must be within Philadelphia. Philadelphia house arrest will not supervise someone on house arrest who lives outside the county. So, in your case, both houses must be in Philadelphia.

6. This is not a requirement but something you should know before their attorney seeks house arrest: If either of them work (gainful employment where they receive pay stubs), attend religious services or have any chronic medical issues that require regular doctor's appointments, the attorney should ask that as a condition of house arrest the individual be allowed to work, attend religious services, go to all schedule doctor's appointments and be allowed out to meet with their attorney. If the lawyer doesn't get this language in the original order, they will not be allowed out for any reason and you'll simply find yourself back in court with a new petition requesting these conditions. Some house arrest workers are very strict and by the book and others are more lenient. Assume they will get the strict one who requires all these items to be in the order. Also, there is generally a two week "black out" period when first released where they will not be able to leave the house for any reason. So, if they work, this is something you and they should keep in mind when preparing their work schedule.

I hope this helps. If you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. I wish you and your relatives all the best.

Brian M. Fishman
267-758-2228
[email protected]

A: Brian’s answer: If you were charged with felony possession with intent to deliver that you were most certainly charged with the lesser included offense of knowing and intentional possession of a controlled substance, commonly referred to as mere possession or possession for personal use. Other common charges are conspiracy (if there's an allegation that you acted along with one or more other people in the selling of the drugs) or possession of drug paraphernalia (this can be seller paraphernalia such as unused baggies, scales, razor blades, plates, cooking pots, etc. or user paraphernalia such as rolling papers, a pipe, lighter, arm band, needles, etc.). The conspiracy would be an ungraded felony similar to the felony possession with intent to deliver while the paraphernalia charge would be an ungraded misdemeanor.

A district justices job at a preliminary hearing is to decide whether a prima facie case has been made out against you on all or some of the charges that you face. A prima facie case is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, the district justice is not determining your guilt or innocence. Rather, the DJ is determining whether it's more likely than not that a crime was committed and that you were involved. If the DJ finds that a prima facie case exists on all charges, then the case will be sent to the Court of Common Pleas in the county where the crime occurred for an arraignment and eventual trial, plea, motion to suppress, etc. The DJ could also determine that a prima facie case has not been made out against you on any charges and dismiss the case. Finally, the DJ could decide that a prima facie case has been made out against you on some charges but not on others. For example, you may have been caught with 15 bags of marijuana when you were stopped in a car. But, there was no large sum of money and new user or seller paraphernalia. The DJ may find that there's enough evidence to move forward to trial on mere possession of marijuana but not enough to force you to stand trial on felony possession with intent to deliver.

However, you must understand that a prima facie case is a very low standard and the Commonwealth is entitled to all reasonable inferences to flow in their directions. Therefore, the DA basically gets the benefit of the doubt on any "close call". Furthermore, the DJ is not in the position to determine credibility. So, the DJ will not dismiss a case because he/she does not believe the officer's testimony. The DJ must assume for purposes of the preliminary hearing that the officer is testifying truthfully. To further stack the deck against you, hearsay is allowed at preliminary hearings. So, the officer can testify to things other officers saw or did as part of the investigation or to things that confidential informants saw or did. So, the Commonwealth has a pretty big advantage at a preliminary hearing as the burden is low, there are no credibility determinations and not all of the rules of evidence that would apply at trial are in place.

So, if there's evidence that the defendant made a sale of drugs to another, this case is moving on to trial on felony possession with intent to deliver. I hope that helped you understand the preliminary hearing process a bit better. I wish you the best of luck and if you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Brian M. Fishman
[email protected]
www.thefishmanfirm.com